Monday, December 13, 2010

Santa Lucia – The Missing Christmas Song

Did you know there's one particular song missing on every Christmas compilation with Elvis? At least if you're from Sweden like I am, there is.

You see, on December 13, Saint Lucia's Day (or Lucia for short) is celebrated in Sweden. Together with Advent, it marks the beginning of the Christmas celebration, and everyone knows the (Swedish) words to the traditional song "Santa Lucia," which was recorded, among others, by a certain Elvis Presley.

Of course, he sang the original Italian lyrics, in a completely different context, in the movie Viva Las Vegas. But the fact remains that it's a song very much associated with Christmas in Sweden. With that in mind, for Swedish fans it would probably have made more sense to include "Santa Lucia" than "Mama Liked The Roses" on the re-issue of Elvis' Christmas Album in 1970.

So far I haven't seen any "new" Christmas album with Elvis featuring "Santa Lucia" and I guess I never will. But inmy Christmas compilation with Elvis it has a given place. (I also included it in the Elvis Christmas program Merry Christmas Baby that I did for the Swedish Radio about ten years ago.)

1 comment:

Mårtenbrother
said...

Vetenskapsradion (Science radio programme) ended today's programme on the historic Lucia saint with a snippet of Elvis version of Santa Lucia! I got a real kick out of it, after having read your post on the song! :-)